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[marcj]

Goodbye boring ass fresh tank.
No gold fish were hurt during this process.


Decided to go with a 10 gallon for the reef tank. Easier to maintain as a beginner.
salt and distilled water added.


Aragonite ocean sand used, which maintains a biological filter; bacteria included


Waiting for temps and pH to stabilize. cycling the filter right now. I will update later once the filter clears up the water a bit.

sand added. filter still clearing the water. going to get some tester fish in a minute


tester fish (damsel)






Current Investment:
10 gallon tank: $12.00
10 gallons of distilled h2o: $7.00
10lbs Agagonite ocean sand: $20.00
2 damsel fish: $8.00
Instant Ocean sea salt: $7.00
adjustable water heater: $20.00
temp gauge: free
filter: free

[Jorsher]

Friends have a salt water tank.

Fuck all that work.

They made one mistake and the fish got sick so now they have to clean the tank out daily.

[catsman50]

I had fresh and salt water tanks for a while. I would much rather have a tropical freshwater tank so much easier to take care of and you can still have some pretty dam cool fish/animals.

[Joseph Davis]

ok

[marcj]

Decided to go with a 10 gallon for the reef tank. Easier to maintain as a beginner.
salt and distilled water added.

do you know anything about salt water tanks?
the bigger they are the easier to maintain. a 10 gallon reef tank is not gonna be easy at all.

what kind of lighting do you have for your coral? reef tanks need strong lighting.
do you have a saltwater test so you can test all the things you need to keep an eye on?

how about a salinity tester? or did you just add the amount of salt the box said.

good luck, make sure the fish you get are ok to have in a 10gallon tank and that they are reef safe.
not many salt water fish can live in a tank that small. a few gobies...
i wouldn't recommend a 10 gallon tank as a first salt water setup for a beginner. also i would never recommend a reef tank for a beginner.

check out aquariacentral.com/forums/ it's a good forum with a lot of great info.

hope you don't kill too many fish, and hope you don't waste too much money.


oh and distilled water could have traces of copper in it which will kill your reef animals.
so you might want to dump all that and use RO water or get a tester and make sure there is no copper in your water

have fun, i wish i could afford to set up my 20g tank again.

good info. I have a hydrometer for salinity, and just ordered a mini-aqualight high intensity (6500k and 10000k). I'm still prepping the tank so there is no live rock in yet. I plan on doing mostly rock and anemone, and maybe a clown fish and blenny.

[marcj]

also, i went nano because water changes are easy, lighting is cheap, same w/ everything else. doing this on a budget. NOG LIFE

[marcj]

I had fresh and salt water tanks for a while. I would much rather have a tropical freshwater tank so much easier to take care of and you can still have some pretty dam cool fish/animals.

i had some tropical freshwater fish in my bigger tank.. puffer fish died when i was at the hospital for 3 weeks.. a few others tried to eat it and died. 

[MantisX]

Planted freshwater tanks FTW. Check out www.aquaticplantcentral.com

Dont get me wrong, saltwater is sweet but let one parameter get out of whack for too long and everything dies.

MantisX

[marcj]

update up top

[marcj]

ammonia levels are kind of high.. stressing the fish out.
going to try to balance it artificially for now.

[junkyard racer]

Mike is pretty much on par with helping you out. Sadly, you are doing a horrible job so far. That tank is no where near cycled, I wouldnt even consider it a saltwater/reef tank or even the start of one, honestly. Those filters are horrible. Damsels are the most worthless test fish ever, they will live in apple juice, ask how I know. You need lights. You need a skimmer. Your sand bed sucks. You have no power heads. I highly recommend a sump. -and more-so, I highly recommend quitting now before you spend/lose any more money. Honestly. Building a saltwater tank to survive longer than a few months is not as easy as one thinks. You are clear evidence of that.

An anemone is the last thing you want to add to a new tank. Id say, maybe after 3-4 months, unless your tank is doing perfect after at least 8 weeks.

reefcentral.com is another kick ass website.

Here is my old set-up from about 2 years ago.
55g reef dominant tank
2x500w ice cap halides
~15g sump
~150# live rock, from Okinawa
~4-6" live sand bed, again straight from Okinawa
~large skimmer
~calcium drip
~mag pumps
~huge fuckin tunze powehead w/ external controller for waves
...probably more shit than I care to even think about. I had so much money into that...but it was my pride in joy. Lots of time went into this tank. It shows, IMO

Livestock...I had about everything you could put into a tank, in there. lol. Anemones (split twice, -the good way) clams, hammer coral, tons of shrooms and zoo's that I propagated in the oceans of Okinawa, (went snorkeling 3 times a week to make sure they were ok)...lol....clown fish that hosted in the carpet anemone, tangs, hundreds of snails, crabs, shrimp...look at my tank. Some actually say it was a little over crowed. My fish were happy, and my coral spread like wild fire. It was a very healthy tank. I sold it when I moved. I plan to build another large (150g system/100g+ show tank) when my daughter gets old enough to understand responsibility.









Part of my homemade sump, chaeto...


Im really not trying to discourage you, I just want you to stop while your ahead. You are going in the totally wrong direction with it. Read, buy everything you think you are gonna need and then start again, with a large sum of money ready to spend. lol. Good luck, and ill offer my advice whenever you need it.

[junkyard racer]

Oh yeah, that stand is a horrible idea, also.

really, there is nothing positive about your tank, dude.

[marcj]

it's all good.. this is a very basic setup. I wont be discouraged if it fails. I do plan on buying a mini-protein skimmer, high intensity lights and building a better stand. I realize the damsels live in harsh conditions. I bought them to assist in the bio-cycles.

I never said I was adding an anemone any time soon. Live rock? yes. invertebrates or expensive fish? no.

this isn't suppose to be a "here's how much money I can spend on a salt water aquarium over night to show off my baller status."

[marcj]

oh, I have a power head to move water too.. I just haven't hooked it up yet

[marcj]

why did you add fish to it?

they are damsels.. like junkyard said, they survive in anything. the guy at the tank shop said they would help with the cycle over the next 3 weeks. For some reason I don't think that I should listen to him any more.

I'm reading more and more threads online as I go, and learning on the way.

[junkyard racer]

your tank will never cycle like that. Flush the fish and wait until you get rock to 'cycle' the tank...or order your rock like....tomorrow.

[marcj]

How many pounds for a 10 gallon do I need for a cycle? I have a petco right down the road that sells live rock. I was about to buy some today but I was going to wait until my high intense 6500k & 10000k light gets here. I could always use a regular florescent fixture and return it once the good stuff arrives.

[junkyard racer]

Really, it sorta depends. Everyone will tell you something different. id start with 2 fairly decent sized rocks, and build on that. 15# depending on what you get. Some rock is very pourous, some is very dense.

I wouldnt get anything from petco, however. Order from a no shit saltwater store, or get some from the classifides section of reef central or another forum.

I wouldnt do anything unti:
-you have your lights -comp flouresents or a t5 set-up if you can afford it. You can get DIY T-5's for that tank, cheap.
-you have your lights on a timer
-you put the tank on a solid stand, once you start adding rock, that tank isnt moving anywhere
-you have a skimmer
-and please, get a dam fuge. You can add another tank below, for cheap. Get another 10g of water flowing through the system, and add a place for chaeto, your life will be much better.


btw, I started exactly how you are starting. I wasted a bunch of money and I really kick myself in the ass. What you see above is top notch parts, and yes...it is/was a baller set-up. It also worked. Not saying yours wont, but your heading down the wrong path, from my experiences, and reading others.  

[Ghetto_D]

Try getting a nanocube, its prefect for the begginer They arent that expensive and super fucking easy to maintain. If your super eager to start, some fish stores will sell you the water they use in their reef tanks, its already cycled so youd be ready to go.

2 years ago I knew shit about having a reeftank (I still dont know shit), When my wifes employer went belly up they gave me the lobby tank with everything in it. It used to be thriving with life, but my son went at it with the feeding tongs, (says he wanted to catch a crab) killed almost everything while i was sleeping, I had to start over. (wife wont let me spend money on it or it would be kick ass) I just ad the chemicals as needed, and test the water quality every week with the lab kit.


24 gallon Nanocube, OdySea 130W lamp, 16K blue actinic, and 50/50 bulb. about 2inches of crushed coral sand, 20-30lbs of live rock. 1 blue tang, 1 yellow tang a few crabs, and snails. 1 anemone, random coral frags.


heres my 2 tangs, I had a clownfish, but it died a month ago for no apparent reason. water parameters were fine.


Heres a closer look, its a little dirty, need to change the water this week.


Their little tunnel, they love swimming thru this thing, chasing each other.


cheap little water chiller/heater. keeps its at 78° all the time


The lab, magnesium, strontium, calcium suplements, water test kit, digital temp/ salinity/gravity tester. PH buffer, phosphoban. and the food, I have prime reef, krill, plankton in the freezer.

I wanted metal Halide lighting, but it was too expensive. The tank stays pretty clean, I  just do a water change every 2 weeks (20%) scrub the glass with the magent scrubber, and vaccum the sand when i do a water change.

My plans are to eventually build a 50 gallon shallow reef tank out of acrylic sheets, when i move to a bigger place.

check out this site it is filled with usefull info.

http://www.saltwater-aquarium-online-guide.com/

[junkyard racer]

Nice tank. Those nano cubes arent bad, for the money. Id still rather have a tank/fuge system, but those arent bad either.

You have chaeto in the back?

[junkyard racer]

isnt it crazy how much those stupid fucking fish get attached to you, and you get attached to them. My blue tang knew exactly when I got home, and would always be up front of the tank when I got home. Any other time, the fucker was under a rock or something. Crazy. I actually miss that fish more than some of my dogs ive had through my life. How retarded is that. When I brought him home, he swam upside down in a 10g tub of water. lol. stressed like a mofo.

[junkyard racer]

Try getting a nanocube, its prefect for the begginer They arent that expensive and super fucking easy to maintain. If your super eager to start, some fish stores will sell you the water they use in their reef tanks, its already cycled so youd be ready to go.
I wanted metal Halide lighting, but it was too expensive. The tank stays pretty clean, I  just do a water change every 2 weeks (20%) scrub the glass with the magent scrubber, and vaccum the sand when i do a water change.

I never touched my sand bed. If you have a super live sand bed, you would never touch yours either. In fact, maybe stop doing the vacuum thing. Just change water. a dirty sand bed is a good thing, if the surface is nasty, get a few more snails. Try it for a month. Toss in some more snails and see what happens.

As for the cube, if you are starting with nothing....and want a small tank...it might not be bad idea. Anything else, id do a 2 tank system. I guess I had luck with my 2 tank system, and I miss it. BTW, Ive actually had 3 tanks. I had one identical to yours, that failed, a ~23g cube tank with a hang on back fuge and a 125w halide, and then I bought the system you see in the pics. the cube was a sexy tank. It was also set up 'properly' and was a great tank. Had a great live sand bed, great light, the calcium level was perfect...actually a little more than most say to have...almost all softies...and no bio load. it was a beautiful tank.

[1Fast68]

I had no idea these damn fish were so needy ....

[junkyard racer]

I had no idea these damn fish were so needy ....

jesus. you have no idea. I bet I spent an hour or two a day with my tank. sometimes an entire saturday was spent cleaning/tending to the tank....I would be up at 5am to get the low tide to collect new coral/propagate the stuff I had in the ocean...and bring some home. I was addicted. Once you get it going, its like you cant stop.

[RotaryGeek]

Dude you are going about it all wrong, paitence (sp) is the best thing you can have with a saltwater tank. I have a 30 gallon with a 20 gallon sump. I have 1x250w Metal Halide 2x65w Pc actinics. i have lots of zoas, mushrooms, candycanes, and a few chunks of sps. A sump with a skimmer and some cheato is literally all the filtration you need. Your live rock will do the rest. About 1 pound per gallon to start with. My tank just turned 1 year old and still doesnt have the really stable water perameters i would like. So it def takes time. 

[1Fast68]

So just out of curiousity, what kind of financial investment are you looking at to get a tank going and to keep it up and running ...

[Ghetto_D]

I spend about $6 a month in saltwater. + $3 for a sea-lab 28 tablet since i dont have a kalk reactor. so about 10-20 a month on water and food

thats funny how you get attached to the fish to bad you cant pet them. My blue tang comes to the front of the tank when i come home from work. When i bought my yellow tang i was afraid the blue one was going to bully it, but they became homies real quick. they chase the shit out of each other all day long, plus they eat all the algea off the rocks.

Its time consuming, and an investment, but its so worth it. My kids spend hours just sitting there watching them. The sound and smell of the saltwater relaxes me, plus the LED moonlights make a bitchin nightlight

[RotaryGeek]

Me and my girl totalled the prices up for everything i spent on this tank, and its just over 3k in one year. granted, i went through about 4 different lights, wasnt satisfied till i had the best, now i can keep anything i want in my tank.

[marcj]

if you do a nano setup, like ghetto_d, you can spend about 300 on the tank and then the cost of rock and fish, plus about 20 on maintaining it. bigger tanks need the expensive light fixtures and such.

I don't plan on spending more than 250 total on mine due to the size.

[junkyard racer]

So just out of curiousity, what kind of financial investment are you looking at to get a tank going and to keep it up and running ...

If I built the tank I had....I would probably have in the area of $1500-$2000, if not more. Thats for the equipment. I paid $1200 for it all, used. If I had a total cost of all of my livestock/equipment, if I paid for my coral/rock/sand I would venture to say it would go north of the $4000 mark. HOWEVER, I paid nothing for my rock, sand. I paid for some of my coral, some of it came from the ocean that I snorkeled for. I paid for all of my fish. My water came from ie island off of Okinawa, some of the best water in the world. I paid like 75 cents a gallon for it. My tap water actually tested real good, so I used it for my top off water. I usually evapped about 2g a day. My air conditioner blew straight onto my tank, which helped stabilize the temps some....I had no chiller.

If I cant build a huge tank next, id really like to build a 20g long tank. I wouldnt attempt to build the tank unless I had about $500 ready to drop on it. That doesnt include sand, salt or rock. I also dont know if I would build one without a generator.

Monthly costs, I think have a lot of variables. Tank size, lights, pumps, there are lots to it. A salt water tank is something that you can neglect for a few weeks, and hope it stays ok, IMO.